Be My Eyes
by Prince Darkcloud
Summary: Itou feels guilty that Mitsuhashi's hurt because of him. Mitou


**Be My Eyes**

"IIItooou...IIIIIIItoooooou!"

"I heard you, I heard you. What do you want?"

"Read me manga."

"No, it's late. Go to bed."

"But I can't go to bed without my manga! Itooou!"

"Alright, alright. Jeez, when did you get to be so whiney?" Itou blindly searched beside his futon for the side table with the lamp on it. After accidentally tugging the cord, sending the lamp flying to the floor, and setting it upright once again, he was finally able to illuminate the room. He blinked away the dots in his eyes and looked down at the pile of manga lying on the floor beside Mitsuhashi's bed. "Which one do you want?"

"Doraemon!"

"You sure?"

"Yeah, yeah!"

Itou looked over at Mitsuhashi's bandaged face. His mouth was smiling broadly, displaying those wickedly sharp teeth. The upper half of his face was hidden from view by a wrap of bandages that covered serious gash wounds around Mitsuhashi's eyes. The last big punk they'd fought had used an incredibly dirty trick, attempting to blind Mitsuhashi with shards of broken glass. Itou, feeling partly responsible for unintentionally starting the whole mess that had eventually lead to the boss fight, had decided to take care of his friend. So far, that had involved innumerable trips to various food stores and reading manga for his temporarily blinded companion.

"Well, what are you waiting for, lackey? Read me my manga!" Mitsuhashi had sat up in bed and was pouting as best he could in the direction he thought Itou was.

Taking care of an annoying bastard was a lot more difficult that Itou had thought. He knew Mitsuhashi was a brat—how could he not? However, he felt that in his heart it was the right thing to do. "Shut up! I'm about to!" Itou leaned back against Mitsuhashi, getting comfortable with his head lying on his blonde's chest.

"OW! Bakappa! Your hair! Your hair!" Itou's hair had pricked him right in his still quite sensitive stitches. In retaliation, Mitsuhashi punched Itou in the side oh his head. "You don't lean on a sick person! They're supposed to use you as their chair!"

Itou was tempted to hit Mitsuhashi back, but managed to keep his anger under control. Instead, he did as Mitsuhashi suggested. He climbed behind his best friend, sitting with a leg on either side, and pulled the artificially yellow head back to rest upon his own chest as he rested the Doraemon book against Mitsuhashi's stomach, getting ready to read it aloud. "You're not sick, you're injured." Mitsuhashi just purred contentedly as he pulled the covers up over Itou and himself. Absentmindedly, Itou began to run his free hand through the bleached blonde hair, gently massaging his companion's head as he described, in full detail, the adventures of the little, blue, earless cat from the future.

It only took a couple chapters until Mitsuhashi was practically asleep. He was starting to snore when Itou finally put down the manga book. "G'nite, Mitsuhashi." He carefully slid out from behind the punk's back and got out of the bed, all the while supporting his slumbering friend with his hands before slowly lowering him down into bed. As he began to pull the covers back up, Mitsuhashi grabbed at him, missing his target several times until he was finally able to get a grip on the cloth of Itou's shirt.

"Stay here with me."

"Mitsu—"

"Please." His face was turned towards Itou's, and even though his eyes were hidden, Itou still felt as if he could see them: an earnest pleading expression that had gotten Itou time and time again. However, this time, Itou felt no misgivings about trusting his friend and that supposedly honest look. There'd be no trap; he wouldn't be used as a decoy, as this wasn't a fight. This was a moment between just the two of them. Itou slowly pulled the covers back and slid in next to Mitsuhashi. He ran his hands through his heavily styled hair until it hung limp at his shoulders, not wanting to poke his friend again. He scooted closer to his hotheaded companion and lay down, pulling the covers up as he did so. Almost immediately, Mitsuhashi's arms were around Itou's waist, pulling him in as close as possible.

Itou couldn't help but stare at the bandages that covered those mischievous, cunning eyes and ran a thumb along the lower edge of the bandages.

"You don't need to worry, Itou. It wasn't your fault."

"But—"

"You're my right hand man. You're weak. I'm supposed to protect you." He smiled with a mix of love, playful teasing, and familiar pompousness.

"What am I? Some frail woman?" Itou ground out agitatedly, "Who do you think I am?"

"Itou Shinji. A self-righteous idiot that has helped my ass out plenty of times but can't seem to handle it when someone that loves them wants to return the favor. I don't do anything I don't want to do. So stop blaming yourself and go to sleep." And with that, the blond delinquent began to fall into another night of restful slumber with Itou tucked comfortably in his arms.

Itou smiled a gentle smile. There was no arguing with Mitsuhashi. "G'nite Mitsuhashi."

"Mmmmrgh...sh'dup...bakappa..."

"Yeah..." he whispered against the snoring chest, "...love you too...you reckless jackass..."

**The End**

**Author's Note**

Meh. Cutesy wutesy fluffy fic. Helping me out of my slump I suppose.

-PD


End file.
